“I sometimes nicknamed him The King because he simply knew everything,” Bowington added.

Wyngarde started his career on stage, in a production on Noel Cowards’ Present Laughter at Birmingham’s Theatre Royal in 1947; and later starred opposite Richard Burton in the big-screen adaptation of Alexander the Great.

He guest-starred in a number of 1960s television shows including The Saint and The Avengers before debuting Jason King in the spy drama Department S.

The character proved so popular that Wyngarde got a spin-off series, which made him a household name in the US and Australia.

His heart-throb status once led to him being mobbed by 30,000 hysterical women at Sydney airport, and he even had his own fashion column in a daily newspaper.

King was his best-known character, a globe-trotting playboy with an astonishing array of outfits. And it wasn’t just his sartorial extravagance that inspired Mike Myers to create Austin Powers: King uttered the phrase “groovy, baby” in one episode.

Wyngarde died at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London after being unwell for a few months.

His agent said that, despite his age, the actor had roles and appearances lined up for the next few months.